Site Mobile Navigation

Good News! He’s Back!

Ron Burgundy Returns in ‘Anchorman 2’

Will Ferrell, in character as Ron Burgundy in front of a Barnes & Noble store in Los Angeles to sign copies of Burgundy’s “autobiography,” “Let Me Off at the Top!”Credit
Emily Berl for The New York Times

LOS ANGELES — Ron Burgundy, his salon-quality hair gleaming on a drizzly late November evening, alighted from the stretch limousine in front of the Barnes & Noble in the Grove shopping mall here.

Dapper in a glen plaid polyester suit, brown ribbed turtleneck and dark-green leather jacket, Mr. Burgundy strode into the store, stopping to hold aloft some merchandise. “Free Legos for everyone!” he cried to the hundreds of people crowding the aisles and leaning over the railings on the levels above.

They were here — some had arrived as early as 5:30 a.m. to secure a place in line — to get an autographed copy of Ron Burgundy’s memoir, “Let Me Off at the Top! My Classy Life and Other Musings.” As the book-jacket copy helpfully points out, Burgundy is America’s most trusted and beloved news anchor.

Of course, he’s also fictional.

A creation of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, and brilliantly inhabited by Mr. Ferrell in the 2004 movie “Anchorman,” Ron Burgundy is a 1970s white male in all his entitled, chauvinistic and jazz-flute-playing glory. And millions of fans have embraced the conceit.

Their passion turned a movie that performed decently at the box office into a catchphrase-spawning sensation on home video and ushered in a new type of smart-silly comedy that in its wake spurred the careers of comedic talents like Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen. And on Dec. 18, nearly a decade later, there will be a sequel: “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.”

The new film follows Burgundy and his indomitably moronic news team (played by Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell) from San Diego to early 1980s New York, at the dawn of the 24-hour news revolution. Mr. Ferrell and Mr. McKay, the film’s co-writers (Mr. McKay once again directs), train their brand of absurdist satire at a more ambitious set of targets: race, media jingoism, infotainment and conglomerates owning news outlets.

The creators and the studio have also upped the ante on the movie’s promotions and marketing tie-ins, all with an offbeat flair. There is, for example, a limited edition of retro Jockey underwear (the packaging on one style reads, “Don’t act like you’re not impressed,” a line from the first movie). And, most notably, the commercial production arm of Funny or Die, the comedy website founded by Mr. Ferrell and Mr. McKay, created dozens of ads in which Burgundy cluelessly shills for the Dodge Durango from Chrysler.

Photo

Clockwise from top right: Adam McKay, director of “Anchorman 2,” with cast members Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd and David Koechner.Credit
Michael Lewis for The New York Times

All these efforts have raised expectations not just at the box office, but also among an expectant fan base that had been taken by surprise with the first modestly budgeted film. The history of actually funny comedy sequels, however, offers a cautionary tale. “Analyze That,” after all, was no “Analyze This.”

Mr. Ferrell and Mr. McKay understand the predicament they face in pleasing fans who want both change and familiarity. “People have taken ownership of these characters,” Mr. McKay said. “If you give them something too different they’re upset. It’s this weird almost no-win situation.”

So they decided to not play it safe and delivered a nearly two-hour comedy even more stuffed with plotlines, slapstick and news team brawls than the previous one.

“I don’t think we can help ourselves,” Mr. Ferrell said.

The inspiration for the original “Anchorman” came one evening more than a decade ago when Mr. Ferrell was watching a television documentary about Jessica Savitch, one of the first women to anchor news telecasts. He was struck by a former co-anchor of hers in Philadelphia, who delivered his reminiscences in a silky baritone. “He literally said the line: ‘You have to remember, back then I was a real male chauvinist pig. I was not nice to her.’ ”

Mr. Ferrell immediately called Mr. McKay, with whom he had worked closely at “Saturday Night Live.” The two men were trying their hand at writing movies together, which had yet to lead to a studio green light. This setup seemed promising: “The first time a woman comes into the newsroom, and you just have this petulant news team, that she’s obviously 10 times smarter than they are, and yet they’re in the dominant position,” Mr. Ferrell, 46, said. “That was simply the idea, and we just went from there.”

The movie, released in the summer of 2004, made just over $90 million globally, good for a movie that cost about $25 million but much less than their later collaborations, including “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” But on DVD, where it has sold an impressive six million copies (and still sells well), and through repeat viewings on premium cable, the movie has imprinted itself on multiple generations.

“Anchorman” represents the Ferrell-McKay oeuvre in its purest distillation: a heightened form of silliness riffing on American archetypes and self-importance that also slyly traffics in some bigger issues.

Photo

From left, Paul Rudd, Will Ferrell, David Koechner and Steve Carell in “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues."Credit
Gemma LaMana/Paramount Pictures

“There’s always a very distinct yet subtle political message you can pick up in there,” said Adam Goodman, the president of the Paramount Film Group, which is releasing “Anchorman 2,” and who was a senior executive at DreamWorks when it brought out the original.

“The heart of what they do is satirical,” said Mr. Koechner, who plays the bigoted, sexist and homophobic (though likely closeted) sportscaster Champ Kind. “The silliness, that’s just the cotton candy on the outside.”

“That’s why it resonates,” he added. “There’s more to it than you realize.”

At the Barnes & Noble book signing, the crowd — mainly in their 20s and 30s — patiently waited in looping lines for a moment with Ron Burgundy. Sean Kinney, 43, brought along his wife and two small children. All were sporting bushy mustaches, while 6-year-old Zaiden was wearing a seersucker suit in homage to Mr. Carell’s weatherman, Brick Tamland, and 4-year-old Ireland had a microphone tucked into her outfit, a shout-out to Mr. Rudd’s character, the field reporter Brian Fantana.

“I’ve never seen children with better mustaches,” Burgundy said as they reached the book-signing stage. “Outstanding.”

Afterward, Mr. Kinney explained why Ron Burgundy has struck such a chord. “The character does and says things we can all relate to,” he said. “We all have a propensity to be ignorant.”

Mr. Ferrell had just come — with a police escort — from a taping of “Conan,” in which over three segments as Ron Burgundy, he expounded on his book and then unveiled the re-election campaign theme song for Rob Ford, the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto. (Mr. Burgundy, claiming him as a “dear, dear friend,” broke into a cover of “Working for the Weekend” by Loverboy.)

And for an hour and a half at the book signing, he did not deviate from his blissfully obtuse character once. When a fan named Andrew Tan informed him that he was leaving Toyota to work for Chrysler, he quickly replied, “Oh, you know, they’re about to go under.”

Both Mr. Ferrell and Mr. McKay share this broad subversive streak. The partners grew up imbibing early “Saturday Night Live,” Steve Martin in his white-suited Wild and Crazy Guy guise, Monty Python and David Letterman.

Their influences may be de rigeur for a generation coming of age in the 1970s and early 1980s “But I don’t think there’s an enormous precedent for their specific style,” said Mr. Apatow, who produced both “Anchorman” movies, and who credits the original with directly leading to his getting to make “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”

“In my work, I tend to write about insecure people,” Mr. Apatow said. “But they’re so hilarious writing about overly confident people — people who are confident who really shouldn’t be.”

“Pompous people are always fun to make fun of,” he added. “But usually the pompous people, in comedy movies, are not the lead. They’re the antagonists.”

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

The words Mr. Ferrell and Mr. McKay’s creations utter can appear harsh on the page, as sexist, racist and other incredibly inappropriate comments tumble out of their mouths, but somehow they lose much of their sting when refracted through the characters’ underlying sweetness.

And as filmmakers, the two men are not trying to demonstrate how smart and witty they are, Mr. Carell said. “They’re never very self-congratulatory on any of the jokes.”

The barrage of lines and sight gags leave little time for that.

On set in Atlanta back in April, the news team was helping Brick Tamland, the non-sequitur-spouting simpleton portrayed by Mr. Carell, prepare for a date with Chani, his new love interest played by Kristen Wiig. Mr. Rudd’s sex-obsessed Brian Fantana then opened his “world-famous Jimmy cabinet,” filled with a wide selection of condoms (an update of the cologne closet in the original).

Stacked inside are the Gentle Mongoose, the Hooded Guest, Coney Island Whitefish and more, the packaging all created for the production. The actors perform the lines in the script. Then, as usual on a Ferrell-McKay movie, the ad-libbing begins, often started by Mr. McKay. Calling out from the next room, where he sat watching the monitor, Mr. McKay fed a line to Mr. Rudd: “There’s only one animal that can tame the deadly cobra, and that’s the mongoose.” Mr. Rudd then picked up another condom. “It’s lubricated with a mixture of Champagne, suntan lotion and barium,” Mr. McKay said. To which Mr. Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy added, “Those things explode directly on contact.”

Mr. Ferrell and Mr. McKay were at first dead set against making sequels to any of their movies, particularly when there were other original stories to tell. But as more and more people clamored for an “Anchorman” sequel, their reticence disappeared.

Photo

Christiane and Sean Kinney and their children, 6-year-old Zaiden and 4-year-old Ireland, waiting in line to meet Mr. Ferrell in Los Angeles.Credit
Emily Berl for The New York Times

They knew there were not many comedy sequels and even fewer good ones. So they looked for lessons from two films they considered among the more successful: “Wayne’s World 2” and “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” “They played with the formula they had,” Mr. McKay said.

The two men seriously considered making “Anchorman 2” a Broadway musical before settling on the 24-hour news world. They forced Ron Burgundy to confront a bunch of new issues: parenthood; a black woman for a boss (and love interest); even a journalistic conscience.

Still, it took a few more years before Paramount gave the go-ahead. The budget granted — about $50 million, twice the original — was lower than the two men had sought.

“Everyone who’s worked on this movie has taken a cut to be with us, a pretty big one,” Mr. Ferrell said.

With the movie complete, the two men embraced the promotional duties. Beyond the creative control they exerted over the Dodge Durango ads, they have collaborated on short video shout-outs, including those to the Australian people about their recent national election. Mr. McKay himself writes the Ron Burgundy Twitter feed.

And Mr. Ferrell continues to take Ron Burgundy on the road eagerly.

On Sunday, in Winnipeg, Ron Burgundy will help announce the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings curling championships. And on Dec. 4, he will be in Boston, where the Emerson College School of Communication will rename itself the Ron Burgundy School of Communication — for a day. (“I’m going to weep like a baby,” Mr. Ferrell said.)

The two men play down expectations for the movie, not wanting to jinx it. And they said they refuse to think about a third “Anchorman,” as they have plenty of other projects to keep them busy. “It would be hard, man,” Mr. McKay said. “You start getting into a really bad success rate with third movies.”

“ ‘Godfather III,’ not so good,” he added.

Paramount’s Mr. Goodman seemed a little more open, and playful, about the possibility of another sequel.

“I think Ron Burgundy has a lot more news to report.”

Correction: December 1, 2013

A cover article this weekend about the making of the movie “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” includes an outdated release date for the film. After the section had gone to press, Paramount announced that the movie would be released Dec. 18, not Dec. 20. The article also erroneously includes the film “Blades of Glory” among the previous collaborations of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. While Mr. Ferrell starred in it, Mr. McKay was not the director.

Dave Itzkoff contributed reporting from Atlanta.

A version of this article appears in print on December 1, 2013, on Page AR1 of the New York edition with the headline: Good News! He’s Back!. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe